Mascot with Attitude - TV Tropes Mascot with Attitude You need to login to do this. Get Known if you don't have an account Share — Sonic the Hedgehog , "Role Models", Sonic Boom There was a time, largely in the mid- Nineties , when the world of video games was overrun with a certain type of character. The Mascot with Attitude is a snarky Funny Animal with kickin' powers, improbable jumping abilities , and usually some form of girlfriend or world to save (or something) . Generally, the Mascot with Attitude can be defined by the presence of three or more the following traits: Comes from a Platform Game . Is Totally Radical . This can be as mild as using totally bogus outdated slang, or as egregious as giving the character a love of "extreme" sports, fast food, sneakers, or anything else with supposed "youth appeal." Is quippy, snarky , and prone to making lots of really bad jokes. Bonus points if one of them is a Take That against Sonic the Hedgehog.

(This trait is more likely to show up in comic book and cartoon adaptations than games, whose Excuse Plots often did without dialogue.) Is competent and violent, but not to child-unfriendly levels. He's also not allowed to swear, but will do his best to anyway. A supporting cast which reinforces his status as coolest character in the universe. Look out for an older uncool antagonist, a sidekick with a case of hero-worship, a helplessly devoted and/or snarky love interest, or a rival that's almost (but not quite) as cool as the mascot. Advertisements for his games put a lot of emphasis on said game's "intensity," especially twitch-action and "speed" . During their heyday in the 90s, almost all Mascots With Attitude were created in order to capitalize on the success of one Sonic the Hedgehog. The reason that most of these failed is that they tended to come across as The Theme Park Version of Sonic. Often a Mascot with Attitude would have said attitude at the expense of a real personality; they were frequently unable to say anything not snarky, and tended to overuse their gimmicks to the point of being Flat Characters .

Many were American-made (probably because Americans love Sonic ) and thus also tended to be filled with Looney Tunes -esque gags or grossout humor , as were popular in America at the time. (Sonic himself notably had neither of these things in his games.) Nowadays, outside of Sonic, this trope is all but discredited , except in parodies, with Conker's Bad Fur Day providing the final blow (although Conker's Bad Fur Day was more a parody of cutesy woodland animal cartoons/games in general). But it's not all bad —for every weak Sonic ripoff out there, there were always a few Mascots With Attitude who managed to be entertaining characters in their own right. The trick is to keep the attitude from eclipsing their entire character , and to merely make it one of their many traits. Audiences do still like "cool" characters, just so long as "cool" isn't all they are. (Diversifying your gameplay doesn't hurt either, as many of the M.W.A.s that survive to this day tended to play, er, radically different from Sonic.) See also: Snarky Non-Human Sidekick , a webcomic trope.

Compare Dreamworks Face , a form of Covers Always Lie in which animated characters appear to be this but only on the movie poster. Compare '90s Anti-Hero , who hails from the same era and Overused Copycat Character . Examples: The Burger King Kids Club, in particular Kid Vid, ◊ who pretty much outdid all the other kids combined ◊ in terms of 90's-ness. Anime & Manga Don Patch from Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo (even if the original manga wasn't from The '90s proper) has many quirks and attitudes that poke fun of this trope, and even his design (and transformations) are reminiscent of '90s mascots like Sonic or Ristar . Jibaku and the other pink creatures from Jibaku-kun, better known for its title in Latin America ( where it was a huge hit despite underwhelming reception in its native country ) as Bucky: en busca del mundo cero. Comic Books Lurchi Salamander, the mascot of the German shoe factory Salamander.

A mischievious but well intentioned teenage fire salamander who would go on journeys to far away places with his friends who often had to be saved by him and his overly awesome Salamander shoes . His way of defeating his opponents, usually non-anthropomorphic animals, often consisted of injuring or killing them . With blood and everything . They decided to make him a lot more childfriendly later on. After his comics were rebooted in the year 2000, he and all of his friends were left with modernized designs which included fully clothing the the amphibian characters, changing the one of them from an old man to a baby and removing Lurchi's signature hat because it was deemed outdated . Games (Platformer) Aero the Acro-Bat (featuring a circus acrobat... bat), though his games are fairly well-remembered. Zero The Kamikaze Squirrel, a spin-off of this game. This one features a ninja squirrel. The video game adaptation Avoid The Noid , featuring Domino's Pizza eponymous wacky, bunny costume-wearing mascot. What do you get when you combine a mediocre Sonic the Hedgehog clone with a Green Aesop ?

Probably something like the Sega Genesis game Awesome Possum , whose name is as Totally Radical as it gets. The game's villain (Dr. Machino) makes no attempt to hide that he is a Dr. Eggman/Robotnik rip-off, which can be deduced just by reading his name. Bart Simpson himself could be considered this in all the games he starred in the early 90's like The Simpsons: Bart vs. the Space Mutants and The Simpsons: Bart vs. the World . It's worth noting that at the time, Bart was considered The Simpsons de facto protagonist and the closest thing to a mascot of the series (which was hitting its peak in popularity during that period), until the show started focusing more on Homer. As such, it could be argued that Bart was as responsible as Sonic in making this kind of character so prevalent, despite his non-gaming origins. The Battletoads were a combination between this and Teenage Mutant Samurai Wombats . This was best exemplified by Rash .

The self-titled protagonist of Bonk (a caveman with attitude and an oversized head) is one of these, becoming the mascot of the Turbo-Grafx 16 and even getting a futuristic spinoff series called Air Zonk . The ill-fated Bubsy the Bobcat is a particularly infamous example of this trope. Bubsy was played straight in his own games, but in his cartoon pilot he became a surreal extreme version of himself, quoting his newly-acquired Catchphrase (which was a throwaway remark of Bubsy's in the first game, but must have tickled one of the writers' (or more likely executives') fancy a bit more than it should) way way too often . (It's even sort of deconstructed within the pilot itself eventually when Arnold suddenly turns on Bubsy, yelling " What Could Possibly Go Wrong? " after his jinxed catchphrase causes them to lose the universe-altering helmet at the very last minute.) In most cartoon openings, they have some kind of montage of what the main characters do. In the Bubsy pilot, he gets out of bed, brushes his teeth with a car buffer, eats some cereal, breakdances and does some air guitar.

Cartoon Bubsy just drips attitude, y'know? He wasn't even that much like this in his original outing, being more along the lines of a Looney Tunes inspired Butt Monkey . Maybe things would have gone better if they stuck to that. Bug, the titular protagonist from the Sega game Bug! He spouts cheesy, annoying one-liners almost every time he kills an enemy or when he takes damage! Chester Cheetah, the painfully Totally Radical mascot for Cheetos, starred in a couple of licensed Platform Games at the time of the trend. Ironically, though the cheetah is supposed to be the fastest creature on land, in the first level Too Cool to Fool Chester literally moves more slowly than a turtle. Chuck Rock is a rock-'n'-roll-playing Neanderthal with 'tude. And he was in fact the mascot of his creators, Core Design, until a lady by the name of Lara Croft came along. Cool Spot is more laid-back than the typical example, doesn't speak (which eliminates the possibility of quips) and the game was more focused on exploration than speed and intensity. On the other hand, he oozes Totally Radical , much more than most on this list.

Crash Bandicoot is one of the few who have managed to fare better than the rest, at least in his early days. Crash himself subverts the trope as personality wise he is a goofy Idiot Hero , however marketing and cover art still portrayed him as having an attitude. Naughty Dog then went on to make the excellent 3D platformer on the PS2: Jak and Daxter (later, Jak 2 & 3) with a subversion of the mascot as the sidekick. IOS platformer/character Crazy Hedgy, despite being a hedgehog, plays more in common with Crash Bandicoot, is known for wearing boxing gloves and a football helmet, and can float (double jump) by using bubble gum. Sash Lilac the dragon girl from Freedom Planet is a Genre Throwback to this kind of character. Having started out as a Sonic fangame to begin with, even sporting a hedgehog design in early development, it's not all that surprising. While she's confident and has the speed to match, she's more spunky and cute than snarky.

Her best friend Carol makes up for it, being a green wildcat ninja with a motorcycle who uses karate kicks that allows her to drive up walls and do backflips. Yes, really . High Seas Havoc , featuring pirate seals, on the SEGA Genesis , though this one was actually pretty good, if Nintendo Hard . Attempted with Kirby of all things, with North-American promotional material trying their best to subvert his innocent nature into some sort of violent troublemaker (sometimes by just adding angry eyebrows on his face). See Kirby's section in the American Kirby is Hardcore page for examples. Mr. Nutz , if only on the box art of the first game and the title screen of the second game, where this little squirrel was holding sunglasses at his hip, sporting a cocky expression, had a skinned elbow, and was perhaps throwing out a gang sign. The games themselves took place deep in the Sugar Bowl , and the in-game character was almost too cute . Punky Skunk for the PS1. Invoked explicitly in the packaging, with the title character's head floating on a funky background. Radical Rex .

In addition to riding on a skateboard, his game actually opened up with a (voiced!) theme song that not only went on about how awesome Radical Rex is, it also threw in more synonyms for "radical" than you could shake a thesaurus at. Similarly, Ratchet & Clank went side-by-side with Jak and Daxter , with Ratchet being a more downplayed example of this. Notable for still expanding to this day with sequels and even movies. Ristar , is a smirking, sneakers-wearing cartoon star. He was also created by Sonic Team , so he at least has that excuse. Though, the character's increased attitude was something added into the US and European versions of the game . Rockin' Kats, a Platform Game by Atlus for the NES. Its main inspiration seems to be Saturday-morning cartoons, which probably accounts for the spring-loaded boxing glove gun used in the game. Rocky Rodent was essentially Sonic with super hair powers and none of the cuteness or charisma. Scaler is a somewhat obscure modern example. Although his Totally Radical quippiness is especially grating, his game ain't half bad, say a few critics.

Sly Cooper is more or less a modern attempt at this kind of character, being way classier and more mature than the usual example (mostly thanks to not relying on Totally Radical and starring games that are the essential opposite of intense), but still keeping a cool and snarky attitude. Another one from the Genesis, the titular Socket is a duck withï¿½ an electric plug coming from his butt. Yes, really. The back of the US box ◊ for the game boasted about how he's fast enough to switch off the lights and get out of the room before it turns dark and how he has more alternating current than the electric company. Sonic the Hedgehog is, of course, the Trope Maker . Later on, however, the "attitude"-aspect was dialed back quite a few notches during the 2000's, and Sonic became more of a laid-back idealist who fits the trope far less than he did back in the 90's. Sonic Colors however gives him almost Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie levels of sarcasm and self-confidence.

The DiC cartoons took the attitude part Up to Eleven , especially the second one , which depicted Sonic as a Narcissist manchild who is always showing off and overusing Totally Radical expressions and catchphrases . Spyro the Dragon is similar to Crash (they've even crossed over once or twice). He's a sassy, badbutt Kid Hero who frequently mocks his enemies. He underwent a brief Darker and Edgier reboot in the late 2000's that recast him in a more serious fantasy environment, before being rebooted again with the Skylanders franchise. And in Skylanders, many of the characters fit this archetype; not just Spyro. Toe Jam And Earl are a pair of funky aliens who embody the Totally Radical trope of the 90's. Their games are still very memorable to this day. Ty the Tasmanian Tiger . The trailers for his first game showed him beating up Sonic, Spyro and Crash with boomerangs, for one thing.

Sega | Sonic News Network | Fandom powered by Wikia History Origins (1945–1989) Sega was founded in 1940 as Standard Games (later Service Games) in Honolulu, Hawaii , United States, [5] by Marty Bromely, Irving Bromberg, and James Humpert to provide coin-operated amusements for American servicemen on military bases. Bromely suggested that the company move to Tokyo, Japan in 1951 and in May 1952 "SErvice GAmes of Japan" was registered. In 1954, another American businessman, David Rosen, moved to Tokyo and established the company Rosen Enterprises, Inc., in Japan to export art. When the company imported coin-operated instant photo booths, it stumbled on a surprise hit: the booths were very popular in Japan. Business was booming, and Rosen Enterprises expanded by importing coin-operated electro-mechanical games. Rosen Enterprises and Service Games merged in 1965 to create Sega Enterprises. Within a year, the new company released a submarine-simulator game called Periscope [6] that became a smash-hit worldwide.

In 1969, Gulf+Western purchased Sega, and Rosen was allowed to remain CEO of the Sega division. Under Rosen's leadership, Sega continued to grow and prosper. In 1976, they released a large screen TV, Sega-Vision (not to be confused with their portable media player, Sega Vision). In the video game arcades, Sega was known for games such as Zaxxon , the first game to employ axonometric projection , and Hang-On , the world's first full-body-experience video game. [7] Sega's revenues would hit $214 million by 1982 and in 1983, [5] Sega would release its first video game console, the SG-1000 , the first 3D arcade video game, SubRoc-3D , which used a special periscope viewer to deliver individual images to each eye, and the first laser-disc arcade game, Astron Belt . In the same year, Sega was one of the victims of the video game crash . Hemorrhaging money, Gulf+Western sold the U.S. assets of Sega to famous pinball manufacturer Bally Manufacturing Corporation .

The Japanese assets of Sega were purchased for $38 million by a group of investors led by Rosen and Hayao Nakayama, a Japanese businessman who owned Esco Boueki (Esco Trading) an arcade game distribution company [8] that had been acquired by Rosen in 1979. Nakayama became the new CEO of Sega, and Rosen became head of its subsidiary in the United States. In 1984, the multi-billion dollar Japanese conglomerate CSK bought Sega, renamed it to Sega Enterprises Ltd., headquartered it in Japan, and two years later, shares of its stock were being traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. David Rosen's friend, Isao Okawa, the chairman of CSK, became chairman of Sega. In 1986, Sega of America was poised to take advantage of the resurgent video game market in the United States. Sega would also release the Sega Master System and the first Alex Kidd game, who would be Sega's unofficial mascot until 1991 when Sonic the Hedgehog took over.

While the Master System was technically superior to the NES, [9] it failed to capture market share in North America and Japan due to highly aggressive strategies by Nintendo and ineffective marketing by Tonka in the United States. However, it did dominate the European and Brazilian markets until Sega discontinued the system in Europe in 1996, and in Brazil in 2000. Sega as a major console manufacturer (1989–2001) Sega Mega Drive/Genesis Original Sega Intro Original Sega Intro With the introduction of the Mega Drive/Genesis (the latter named in America due to Sega unable to secure legal rights to the Mega Drive name in the said country), Sega of America launched an anti-Nintendo campaign to carry the momentum to the new generation of games, with its slogan "Genesis does what Nintendon't." This was initially implemented by Sega of America President Michael Katz. [10] When Nintendo launched its Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1991, Sega changed its slogan to "Welcome to the next level." The same year, Sega of America's leadership passed from Michael Katz to Tom Kalinske, who further escalated the " console war " that was developing.

[11] As a preemptive strike against the release of the Super Nintendo, Sega re-branded itself with a new game and mascot, Sonic the Hedgehog . With his hip attitude and style, he was marketed to seem "cooler" than Mario , Nintendo's mascot. [12] This shift led to a wider success for the Genesis and would eventually propel Sega to 65% of the market in North America for a brief time. [13] Simultaneously, after much previous delay, Sega released the moderately successful Sega CD as an add-on feature, allowing for extra storage in games due to their CD-ROM format, giving developers the ability to make longer, more sophisticated games, the most popular of which was Sega’s own Sonic the Hedgehog CD . [14] Sonic the Hedgehog 2 was also released at this time, and became the most successful game Sega ever made, [15] selling six million copies as of June 2006. [15] Despite their massive advances in the arcades, Sega’s share of the home market plummeted to 35% by 1994.

[13] That year, Sega released the Sega 32X in an attempt to upgrade the Mega Drive/Genesis to the standards of more advanced systems. It sold well initially, but had problems with lack of software and hype about the upcoming Sega Saturn and Sony's PlayStation. [16] Within a year, it was in the bargain bins of many stores. [17] Also in 1994, Sega launched the Sega Channel , a subscription gaming service delivered by local cable companies affiliated with Time-Warner Cable or TCI through which subscribers received a special cartridge adapter that connected to the cable connection. At its peak, the Sega Channel had approximately 250,000 subscribers. [18] Sega versus Accolade In 1992, Sega lost the Sega v. Accolade case, which involved independently produced software for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis console. Accolade had copied a small amount of Sega's code to achieve compatibility with the Sega Genesis platform. The verdict set a precedent that copyrights do not extend to non-expressive content in software that a system requires to be present to run the software. [19] The case in question stems from the nature of the console video game market.

Hardware companies often sell their systems at or below cost, and rely on other revenue streams such as in this case, game licensing. Sega was attempting to "lock out" game companies from making Mega Drive/Genesis games unless they paid Sega a fee (something its competition has done in the past). Their strategy was to make the hardware reject any cartridge that did not include a Sega trademark. If an unlicensed company included this trademark in their game, Sega could sue the company for trademark infringement. Though Sega lost this lawsuit, all later Sega systems seemed to incorporate a similar hardware requirement. Sega Saturn Main article: Sega Saturn On May 11, 1995, Sega released the Sega Saturn (with Virtua Fighter ) in the American market, which utilized a 32-bit processor and preceded both the PlayStation and the Nintendo 64. However, poor sales in the West (including the traditional stronghold markets in Europe) led to the console being abandoned.

[12] Notable titles include several titles exclusive to the Japanese market, like Radiant Silvergun and Sakura Taisen, involving fighting games like Last Bronx, rail shooters such as Panzer Dragoon and The House of the Dead and a few well regarded RPGs: Panzer Dragoon Saga, Grandia, and Shining Force 3. In 1997, Sega entered into a short-lived merger with Bandai. However it was later called off, citing "cultural differences" between the two companies. [20] Entertainment fun center GameWorks was founded in 1997 as well as the now defunct Sega World theme parks. Dreamcast Main article: Dreamcast In September 1999 (the date 9/9/99 featured heavily in U.S. promotion), Sega launched the Dreamcast game console in North America. The Dreamcast was competitively priced, partly due to the use of off-the-shelf components, but it also featured technology that allowed for more technically impressive games than its direct competitors, the Nintendo 64 and PlayStation.

An analog 56k modem was also included, allowing gamers to play multiplayer games online on a home console for the first time, featuring titles such as the action-puzzle title Chu Chu Rocket, Phantasy Star Online, the first console-based MMORPG, and the innovative Alien Front Online, the first console game with online voice chat. The Dreamcast's launch in Japan was a failure. Launching with a small library of software and in the shadow of the upcoming PS2, the system would not gain great success, despite several successful games in the region. The Western launch a year later was accompanied by a large amount of both 1st party and 3rd party software and an aggressive marketing campaign. It was extremely successful and earned the distinction of "most successful hardware launch in history," selling a then-unprecedented 500,000 consoles in its first week in North America. [21] Sega was able to hold onto this momentum in the US almost until the launch of Sony's PlayStation 2 .

The Dreamcast is home to several innovative and critically acclaimed games of the time, including one of the first cell-shaded titles, Jet Set Radio ; Seaman, a game involving communication with a fish-type creature via microphone; a rhythm game involving the use of maracas, Samba de Amigo , Shenmue , an adventure game of vast scope with free-form gameplay and a striking attempt at creating a detailed in-game city and Sonic Adventure , the first true 3D action/adventure Sonic game which was notable for being the top-selling game for the Dreamcast, selling 2.5 million copies. Despite receiving critical acclaim, these titles failed to garner much public attention in the face of the upcoming PlayStation 2 launch. Faced with debt and competition from Sony's PlayStation 2, Nintendo's Gamecube, and Microsoft's Xbox (although Microsoft didn't enter the video game market at this point), Sega officially discontinued the Dreamcast hardware in 2001. The final game Sega released for it was NHL 2K2.

Shift to a software manufacturer (2001–2005) On 23 January 2001 a story ran in Nihon Keizai Shimbun that said Sega was going to cease production of the Dreamcast and develop software for other platforms. [22] After the initial denial, Sega Japan then put out a press release confirming they were considering producing software for PlayStation 2 and Game Boy Advance as part of their "New Management Policy". [23] [24] Then on 31 January 2001, Sega of America officially announced they were becoming a third-party software publisher. [1] The company has since developed primarily into a platform-neutral software company, known as a "third-party publisher", that creates games that will launch on a variety of game consoles produced by other companies, many of them former rivals, the first of which was a port of Chu Chu Rocket to Nintendo's Game Boy Advance.

Arcade units are still being produced, first under the Sega NAOMI name, and then with subsequent releases of the Sega NAOMI 2, Sega HIKARU, Sega Chihiro, Triforce (in collaboration with Nintendo and Namco) and the Sega Lindbergh. By 31 March 2002, Sega had five consecutive fiscal years of net losses. [25] To help with Sega's debt, CSK founder Isao Okawa, before his death in 2001, gave the company a $695.7 million private donation, [26] and also talked to Microsoft about a sale or a merger with their Xbox division, but those talks failed. [27] On February 13, 2003, Sega announced plans to merge with Sammy , but plans fell through. Discussions also took place with Namco, Bandai, Electronic Arts and again with Microsoft. With this shift to software development, this affected Sega's Australian operations. Sega Ozisoft ceased to operate in its current form with Sega Enterprises selling its share in Sega Ozisoft and was bought over by Infogrames in 2002.

This led to Infogrames having an Australian presence for the first time but decided to change the company name for its Australian operations to GameNation. Sega then went to find an Australian distributor, and made a deal with THQ Asia Pacific, who at the time until 2006 had deals with Capcom. In 2003 GameNation was changed to Atari Australia and then challenged THQ Asia Pacific to the distribution rights to Sega's IP's in Australia but failed. In early 2008 Sega Corporation announced that Sega would re-establish an Australian presence, effectively ending THQ's distribution of Sega's products in Australia and would be a subsidiary of Sega of Europe, rather than being a separate local subsidiary like Atari Australia, Nintendo Australia and THQ Asia Pacific. In August 2003, Sammy bought the outstanding 22% of shares that CSK had, [28] and Sammy chairman Hajime Satomi became CEO of Sega. With the Sammy chairman at the helm of Sega, it has been stated that Sega's activity will focus on its profit-making arcade business rather than its loss-making home software development. In late December, Sega released Sonic Heroes selling over 2 million copies.

It was the first Sonic game to be on both the Xbox and the PlayStation 2. During the middle of 2004, Sammy bought a controlling share in Sega Corporation at a cost of $1.1 billion, creating the new company Sega Sammy Holdings , one of the biggest game manufacturing companies in the world. With the merger, Sega reabsorbed its second party studios and began to reorganize them. Tetsuya Mizuguchi, father of Sega Rally and Space Channel 5 , cited the changes in the corporate culture after the Sega-Sammy merger. [29] In 2005, Mike Hayes became head of Sega in Europe. He would help to transition the company into becoming a third-party developer. He would later become head of Sega America in 2009. On 25 January 2005, Sega's Visual Concepts, a studio Sega dubbed a "1.5" developer, was shut down by Take-Two Interactive. Sega used the parlance "1.5" as a mid-point of sorts between first-party and second-party developer status: that is, a wholly owned studio that would otherwise be known as a first-party developer, but was outside of internal development teams.

Visual Concepts was known for many Sega Sports games including the ESPN NFL Football series, formerly NFL2K. The sale also came with Visual Concept's wholly-owned subsidiary Kush Games. Take Two subsequently announced the start of the publishing label 2K Games because of this purchase. Current status (2006–present) Current Sega Logo Current Sega Intro By the end of 2005, Sega experienced strong earnings growth across multiple divisions. Contributing to the company's success were strong pachinko sales, [30] and sales of software titles Ryu Ga Gotoku (known as Yakuza outside of Asia), Mushiking, and Sonic the Hedgehog . In an effort to appeal to western tastes, they partnered with Obsidian Entertainment to develop a new RPG for the PlayStation 3 , Xbox 360 , and PC based on the Aliens Franchise. [31] The partnership was the latest in a series of collaborations with western video game studios, including Monolith Productions (Condemned: Criminal Origins), Bizarre Creations (The Club), and Silicon Knights (who have yet to announce their project with Sega).

That desire to have a more Western appeal for Sega was shortly followed up by Sega acquiring British developer Sports Interactive after a successful run of publishing Football Manager 2005 and 2006, in which they managed to sell 1.5 million copies, [32] the deal was said to be worth in the region of £30 million ($52 million) by Miles Jacobson, Sports Interactive’s Managing Director. [33] This was, however, not the only developer Sega acquired, as they also purchased American developer Secret Level. Although the terms of the deal were not disclosed, [34] Secret Level had begun work before being bought by Sega to "recreate a classic Sega franchise" for the PS3 and Xbox 360 in July 2005, which was revealed to be Golden Axe: Beast Rider later that year.

While Sega continued its expansion in the West, on 8 May 2006, it was announced Sega of Japan begun helping famed Sega developer and Sonic Team head Yuji Naka (known for being the main programmer for the original Sonic the Hedgehog games and Nights into Dreams...) to start up his own company titled " Prope " (Latin for "beside" and "near future") [35] in which Sega helped provide 10% startup capital [36] and have the option to publish games produced from the studio if they wished to. Due to the continued success of Sega’s software sales, the company reported on 17 May 2006 a 31% rise in net profits from that of the previous year of the period ending March 31, 2006, being posted at ¥66.2 billion ($577 million), as well as an increase in operating profit growing by 13% from the previous year, being posted at ¥553.2 billion ($4.82 billion).

[37] Notable titles to have helped Sega increase profits in the West, such as Shadow the Hedgehog (which sold over a million copies) [38] and Sonic Riders , whilst in Japan, games such as Yakuza, Mushiking and Brain Trainer Portable continued to have strong sales. Although Sega seemed poised to continue increasing profits, the company reported a massive drop of 93% profits for the period ending 30 June 2006 compared to the same period the previous year. Net income for the company dropped from $98.3 million (a year earlier) to $7.12 million for this period as well as total sales dropping from $926.5 million to $809.1 million, [39] Sega reported that the decrease in profits was due to no significant big releases by its slot machine division. Despite this, Sega reported in November a massive 52% rise in profits for the periods between April and September 2006, compared to the same period last year. [40] Software sales for the company had also increased with 5.75 million.

Of those units, 1.76 million were sold in Japan, 1.59 million in Europe, 2.36 million in the US and 30,000 in other regions. [41] a number of titles were said to have performed well, in particular Super Monkey Ball: Touch & Roll for the Nintendo DS and Football Manager 2006 for the Xbox 360 having sold well. While Sega performed better in 2006, they had slashed their forecasts for the year ending March 2007 by 20% with an anticipated profit of $536.7 million, down from the initial profits of $656.7 million. On August 26, 2007, IGN Australia announced that Sega would re-establish itself in Australia, ending THQ Asia Pacific's distribution of Sega products in Australia. Sega Australia has a very close relationship with Nintendo Australia, despite Sega Ozisoft and NAL previously being rivals in the Australian gaming market. Sega Australia currently do not distribute in New Zealand, instead like most other Australian publishers, they opt to let retailers take care of the distribution e.g. EB Games Australia and Kmart.

Continuing to prepare more games for the Western market, Sega was able to bridge a partnership with New Line Cinema in September to develop a game for the movie tie-in game The Golden Compass [42] and also partnered themselves with Fox to develop two new games based on the Alien franchise. [43] Sega then assigned critically acclaimed developers Gearbox software to develop a first person shooter (Aliens: Colonial Marines) and Obsidian Entertainment to develop an RPG based on the popular film franchise for the PlayStation 3 , Xbox 360 , and PC . The latter was cancelled for undisclosed reasons by Sega. However, Aliens: Colonial Marines continued production by Gearbox and was released February 12, 2013. Sega has also been publishing games from independent studios (such as Platinum Games), and is currently considering turning them into franchises. Sega has also designed an online flash game site dubbed "PlaySega," which includes both original games and ports of classic games, with retro Sonic games being promised in the long run. [44] Users of this site earn various amounts of "PlaySega Rings," which they can use to customize and house their avatar or enter weekly cash drawings.

On 10 February 2009, Sega approved a patent for two controller designs, one that looks similar to the Sega Saturn 3D pad with a added touch screen device and one that looks similar to the Mega Drive/Genesis 6-button pad. [45] Sega also approved a patent for USB Flash Memory cards and hard drive on 7 July 2009. [46] Because of these patents, rumors have been spreading that Sega is going to release a new home console based on Ring hardware in 2010 or 2011. There have also been rumors about a "Dreamcast 2", but Sega has announced nothing about these- and rumors is all they are. and the "Sega Phoenix". Sega announced that it has hired a company for a licensed console called "Sega Zone". It's an updated Zone 40 (available in Europe) with 20 classic Sega titles and 30 other games. Sixteen of those games will be motion-controlled. The system will not run additional games that do not come with the system. It's a plug in and play interface. The package will come with two controllers that are similar to the Wii Remote.

It's will be released in the Summer and will be priced at £50 (about $80 US). This is an official Sega licensed product, and not a console that has been officially designed by Sega, nor is it rumored Ring-edge console. On 17 May 2013, Nintendo announced a worldwide partnership with Sega for the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. The next three Sonic games ( Sonic Lost World , Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games and Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric / Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal ) would be released exclusively to Nintendo consoles ( Wii U and Nintendo 3DS ). On that same day, Sega Europe announced that the publishing and distribution rights for the those three Sonic games in Europe and Australia would be Nintendo's responsibility. Sega, however, published Sonic Lost World in North America and Japan. References Happy 25th, Sonic, and Thank the Gaming Gods You Weren’t an Awesome Possum - VICE Happy 25th, Sonic, and Thank the Gaming Gods You Weren’t an Awesome Possum Sonic spin-dashed through the Mascot Wars of the 1990s.

But let's spare a thought for the fallen, those anthropomorphized heroes who didn't make it. Sonic illustration by Stephen Maurice Graham This article originally appeared in VICE UK magazine, Volume 23, Issue 4 (June 2016). Find more information here . Twenty-five years ago this June (the 23rd), Sega's Mario-rivaling mascot Sonic the Hedgehog spin-dashed onto the Mega Drive and immediately became the edgier alternative to Nintendo's popular plumber and pals. From the perspective of today, it might seem hard to understand how a blue hedgehog that looked more like a design you'd find on the side of some cheap sneakers than an actual animal ever qualified as "cool." But the video games landscape of the 1990s was a strange and terrifying place, stocked with side-scrolling platformers starring an array of questionably designed protagonists, predominantly based on some exotic creature or other from a dog-eared Spotter's Guide to the Natural World. Which makes you wonder how a hedgehog, above any other, more exotic creatures, became the standout character amid a zoological cornucopia of contenders.

Playing the original Sonic today, though, makes it abundantly clear how this game stole a march on so many other platform titles of the time, and why it formed the foundations of a franchise that, while not flourishing in the 21st century, remains a presence in gaming's middle-mainstream firmament. From the very beginning of Sonic's development, its makers at Sega's AM8 department—later renamed Sonic Team—placed their gameplay emphasis on speedy traversal, while the character design aimed to mix approachability and aggression. Ideas for vampire-like fangs and Sonic being the frontman of a rock band were ditched, thankfully, but he still bears the mark of pop culture: His red shoes were supposedly inspired by Michael Jackson. Play Sonic today, the Mega Drive's biggest-selling title, and it's a remarkably streamlined experience, stripped almost bare of the superfluous extras that pepper even today's simplest games. There are collectibles, Chaos Emeralds, to pick up in special stages, and power-ups to temporarily enhance Sonic's defenses and speed.

But it's predominantly a pure-and-simple case of racing from left to right, bouncing off enemies and beating a boss—the same Eggman/Dr Robotnik, in a different power-suit/vehicle—at the end of every zone. It's beautiful, Game Design 101 stuff: You press this button here, and fun happens there. It's a shame, then, that the game's 1992 sequel, often cited as the outstanding game of the Sonic series, over-complicated its stages with confusing pathways and a rhythm-disrupting amount of backtracking. A clutch of its aesthetically vibrant middle zones are spoiled by speed-killing enemy positioning, blind leaps of faith, and cheap deaths by bone-crushing blocks. Sonic 2 is a great game, for the most part, but when I went back to it on a recent flight, via the excellent 3DS version that came out in October 2015, I was genuinely frustrated by obvious shortcomings I don't recall noticing when playing as a kid. Perhaps I had more patience for poor level layout back then, on account of each game bought using scraped-together pocket money and gift vouchers representing a more significant investment than they are today.

I stuck it out through Sonic 2 in the 1990s, but I'd not finished it before we'd landed, and I've not gone back to polish that run off since. Article continues after the video below Sonic made it out of the anthropomorphized gaming mascot ghetto of the 1990s, and while his games aren't universally enjoyed today, it's worth remembering that hedgehogs only usually live for three years in the wild. At 25, he's well over 300 years old in equivalent human years, so we should forgive him for moving a little sluggishly in Shattered Crystal, and for letting so many game-breaking glitches slip into the retail code of Rise of Lyric. He's almost certainly in his twilight years, and he's earned a rest. Which conveniently affords me a moment to reflect on some of Sonic's peers who didn't make it to retirement age, and so very far beyond. Sonic's success sparked a flood of comparably zoomorphic avatars featuring in their own releases, ostensibly much the same gameplay wise as Sega's breakthrough, featuring a whole lot of leaping, landing, and enemy lamping.

On the Mega Drive itself, Aero the Acrobat (a bat) and Bubsy (a bobcat) in Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind both came out in 1993, made by Iguana and Accolade respectively, looking to cash in while platforming games featuring attitude-laden mascots were in their post-Sonic pomp. Both were decent and enjoyed some commercial success, but neither could step out from the spiky shadow of SEGA's market leader. And so, while sequels followed each debut, both Aero and Bubsy remain relics of the 1990s, with the latter last seen in action during the days of the original PlayStation. The PlayStation was also home to Crystal Dynamics' Gex series, featuring a TV-addict gecko (obviously), and two Croc games from Argonaut Software, its playable character being, you guessed it, a crocodile. The terrifically titled Awesome Possum... Kicks Dr. Machino's Butt from Tengen saw an environmentally minded marsupial go up against a mad scientist set on world domination, but the late-1993 Mega Drive exclusive was poorly received by critics and didn't spawn any follow-ups.

The same is true of Irem's Rocky Rodent, a SNES release of 1993 that only received an official release in Japan and the States. It was a speedy side-scroller featuring a wild-haired protagonist that was unashamed in its Sonic-aping presentation, but it missed a trick in my opinion for not taking its Japanese title worldwide. In Irem's homeland, the game was called Nitropunks: Mightheads. Which, frankly, can't have failed to grab teenage attentions in any branch of Tandy. All of these Sonic wannabees are best left in the past, but there is one furry hero from gaming's 16bit era that I'd certainly welcome in a DOOM—or Shadow of the Beast-style modern remake. Konami's Rocket Knight Adventures was, come on now, a Sonic-beater in '93, and its sword-swinging star Sparkster, an opossum with a rocket pack, would look perfectly at home beside the revived Ratchet and Clank, in a shiny new PS4 form. I'd much rather that, than another awful Sonic project that jackhammers a fresh hole through his faded reputation. Follow Mike Diver on Twitter.

Sonic The Hedgehog it gr sp fr uk aus us TM IOC/USOC 36USC220506. Copyright © 2011 International Olympic Committee ("IOC"). All rights reserved. SONIC THE HEDGEHOG characters © SEGA, SEGA, the SEGA logo and Sonic The Hedgehog are either registered trademarks or trademarks of SEGA Corporation. All rights reserved. SEGA is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. SEGA and the SEGA logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of SEGA Corporation. © SEGA. All rights reserved. "PlayStation" and the "PS" Family logo are registered trademarks and "PS3" and the PlayStation Network logo are trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Nintendo properties are trademarks of Nintendo. © 2013 Nintendo. Apple and the Apple logo, iPhone, and iPad, are trademarks of Apple Inc. registered in the U.S. and other countries. App Store is a service mark of Apple Inc. Android is a trade mark of Google. This software uses fonts produced by FONTWORKS Inc. FONTWORKS, and font names are trademarks or registered trademarks of Fontworks Inc.

Sonic Rush | Nintendo DS | Games | Nintendo Details ... The world's fastest hedgehog streaks onto Nintendo DS in Sonic Rush. In this sideways scrolling scramble, Sega's mascot is so incredibly fast you'll need to use both of the DS' two screens to keep up, with both the lower and upper displays combined to portray a single play area. Whizz around brand-new corkscrews, whipping Sonic up, down and all points in between - you can even take the spiky blue 'hog bungee jumping, Sonic plummeting down from one screen to the next. Sonic himself is displayed in 3D, and the boss-battles also switch to fully 3D action as in Sonic Heroes! Play as either Sonic or the mysterious new character Blaze the Cat, a feline queen from a parallel dimension. Search for the powerful Sol Emeralds - but beware, you're not the only one in search of these dangerous jewels. As you progress through the game, the "ripple" effect means that actions you take in Sonic's world will have consequences in the world of Blaze, and vice versa. With stylus controlled mini-games for when you need a break from the main game, Sonic's latest is a real Rush!

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Sonic the Hedgehog (Sega Game Gear, 1991) | eBay Sonic the Hedgehog (Sega Game Gear, 1991) 4.7average based on 9 product ratings 5 Trending price is based on prices over last 90 days. Release Year:1991 Sold by pokdragonsden See details for delivery est. Sold by lukiegames See details for delivery est. All listings for this product Pre-owned Compare products others also viewed THIS PRODUCT Sonic the Hedgehog (Sega Game Gear, 1991) TRENDING PRICE Product Information Product Information The evil Dr. Robotnik is back, and this time in a portable format. Sonic the Hedgehog for the Game Gear is a portable adaptation of the Genesis side-scrolling platform series starring Sega's hedgehog mascot. As in the 16-bit original, Sonic must find and defeat Dr. Robotnik so that he can free his animal friends. Sonic can run, jump, or roll his way through stages. While jumping, Sonic curls up into a ball and can attack the various robotic creatures; alternatively blasting on the ground with a curled up and rolling Sonic can also dispatch enemies.

If enemies touch Sonic while he isn't curled up, they can damage him. Sonic can find and collect gold rings, however, which allows him to survive the touch -- but at the cost of losing all his rings. Without any rings, Sonic dies when enemies attack him. Players must guide Sonic through stages filled with hazards like moving or collapsing platforms, spikes, water, or giant springs. To help him in his quest to defeat the evil Dr. Robotnik, Sonic can find and collect a variety of items. Besides acting as an insurance policy against death, gold rings can earn players extra lives (100 rings) or allow them to advance to bonus stages (having at least 50 rings at the end of the level). There are also other items like shields that absorb one hit, temporary invincibility power-ups, red sneakers for extra speed, or even bonus Sonics! Product Identifiers by 1132177511@dele... Nov 11, 2012 Great Game a Classic! The Sega Game Gear was the first handheld that Sonic appeared on. I have to say, the Game Gear was a little bit futuristic because it looked more like a Game Boy Advance.

The original Sonic for the Genesis will always be an all-time classic. However, does the Game Gear version succeed, too? Yes, but not as much. First off, the graphics were pretty good and the music and sound effects were well designed. The main complaint though, is the difficulty. It's really easy. The reason why I like this game is because it is very clever and the graphics are great, and it has really cool music for each stage. The real challenge, however, is getting the Chaos Emeralds, which are scattered around the zones. Hidden in each stage, you will find a Chaos Emerald. Collect them all to reveal the happy ending. If you end a stage with at least 50 rings, you will get to go to the bonus stage. I like the idea of the pinball-like bonus stages. In this video game, Dr. Eggman has built a robot factory on top of South Island. He has captured all of the animals and put them inside his robots to be his slaves and serve his evil purposes. What's worse, his robot factory is polluting the island, which means the wildlife will soon die.

Only one hero can save the island--the hero with the type "H" personality (H for hedgehog, that is.) That's right, It's Sonic! Note that some zones are replaced with new ones. The Special Stages are also different. You bounce on a truckload of springs being bounced around by pinball bumpers. The goal in the Special Stages is to reach the end. The one I hate, though, is Bridge Zone, which has an auto-scrolling level, and that's why. The bosses can be pretty easy, but a couple might be hard, like Jungle Zone's boss, due to the screen size. I hope this review is helpful to you. Overall, 5 stars. I recommend you get this game if you own a Game Gear. Once you play it, I'm sure you will agree. Read full review by soulemet Dec 01, 2009 Revisiting Sonic 8 Years On The Sonic the Hedgehog game series on Sega systems were my kid's favorite games. They played them nearly all the time. That didn't leave Dad much alone-time with the game console. When a recent opportunity to own a Game Gear came, I jumped at the chance.

Of course, no Sega experience would be complete without Sonic the Hedgehog. This is not your Sega Genesis Sonic, however. The Game Gear's version's graphics are lower resolution (the screen is substantially smaller, too) and the sounds are different; befitting the limited resources the Game Gear was endowed with. But for sheer play enjoyment it's enough like its bigger brother to make for great game play. by mobiethian Jun 28, 2011 Awesome game, very rare and great for any collector! Excellent Collectors Item! Very rare to find in such great shape, including box in awesome shape, the game manual, and cartridge and case. Well worth the effort to find and add to the collection. Not like most of the other games for Game Gear, very first Sonic Game with loads of fun for anyone and hours of entertainment. Well worth buying the other Sonic Game Gear Games as well to go along with this. by precise67 Apr 30, 2007 Sonic With A Twist Sonic The Hedgehog makes its way to the Sega Game Gear. I remember playing this back in '91 and it was quite fun. At that time, I didn't make much progress in the game.

Last year I finally beat the game with all of the chaos emeralds. Those of you expecting a Genesis translation for this game, you won't get it. The Game Gear version is in a league of its own(that's a good thing). Sonic has three of the same levels as the Sega Genesis version. They are Green Hill Zone, Labyrinth Zone, and Scrap Brain Zone. I like the fact that there are three different zones in the game. They are Bridge(Zone 2), Jungle(Zone 3), and Sky Base(Zone 6). Bridge is a decent zone that has catchy music. The Jungle Zone is cool too. I actually like fighting Robotnik in Act 3. Sky Base Zone is somewhat tricky at first, but if you managed to keep enough extra lives, you should have no problem completing the level. You will enjoy fighting Robotnik each time because the battle is different in each zone. I played this game almost every day in '95 or '96. With that amount of gaming, it was a breeze for me to complete the game(without all of the chaos emeralds). That holds true today.

The graphics are decent for the Game Gear's capabilities and the music is a great addiition as well. If you don't have this game, be sure to pick it up. You should be able to find it for a decent price. This game is fun for all ages. Enjoy. Read full review by brianyankees Jun 04, 2007 Quality Game Gear Game This game deserves to be rated excellent as far as Game Gear games go. This was the first videogame I ever owned, and the joy I had playing this game when I was younger has stayed with me through the years. First off, the graphics in Sonic are stunning. The visuals are crisp, clean and clear, as well as quite colorful and cheerful. Sonic, as well as the enemies in the game, are large and colorful. The audio is simply awesome for a GG game. The music is some of the best on the system, and the sound effects are fine. If you have a Game Gear, there's no point in owning one if you don't have this game. Simple as that. Explore Buying Guides

Question: Sonic, the mascot for Sega corporation, is what type of animal?
Answer: Hedgehog